Toby Greene was let off with a fine by MRO Michael Christian after an off-the-ball whack to the stomach to Fremantle’s Reece Conca on Saturday.
Conca was left on his knees by the hit and received assistance from a trainer, but the incident, which happened well off the ball, was graded low impact as well as intentional and to the body.
After weeks of calling out the AFL over their tolerance of striking in the game, Garry Lyon expected Greene to get off, though he remains disappointed.
“Why would you even worry talking about it? You’re allowed to backhand anyone these days,” Lyon told SEN Breakfast.
“As I have said for weeks, just pay upfront. Just walk into the umpires’ rooms beforehand and say, ‘here’s $500’.
“And the umpire goes ‘what’s that for?’. ‘Well, I want a free swing at someone’.
“We’re not going to argue too much about the MRO because no one knows what is going on.”
Read Garry Lyon’s system that he believes would stamp out striking in the game here.